School of Mechanical Engineering

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES

MECH2610 Engineering Mechanics

Semester 2 – Unit 1

Revision topic 3: Example 2

Dr Qingen Meng
Q.Meng@leeds.ac.uk

Copyright © 2023 University of Leeds UK. All rights reserved.

Revision topic 3 – FBD – Example 2 2

Example 2:
A simply supported beam is loaded by a non-uniformly distributed loading.
Dimensions of the beam and the magnitude of the non-uniformly distributed
loading are as shown in the following figure. What are the internal shear forces
and bending moment in this beam?

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Revision topic 3 – FBD – Example 2 3

Example 2: Step 2: Calculate the total force due to

the distributed loading

Two ways to calculate it:

A. Use the formula: the total force is the

area under the line
Step 1: Replace the supports by reactions

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 Revision topic 3 – FBD – Example 2 4

Then calculate the total force caused by the

distributed load.

B. A more generic method: Integration.

Need to know the variation of the distributed force
first.

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 Revision topic 3 – FBD – Example 2 5
2) Equilibrium of moment about the left end

Step 3: Find the reaction forces using force

and moment equilibrium
1) Equilibrium of vertical force

3) Solve R1 and R2

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Revision topic 3 – FBD – Example 2 6
Step 4. Draw the FBD for a portion of the
beam (0x12)

1) Equilibrium of vertical force

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Revision topic 3 – FBD – Example 2 7

Step 4. Draw the FBD for a portion of the

beam (0x12)

2) Equilibrium of moment about the right end

Copyright © 2023 University of Leeds UK. All rights reserved.

School of Mechanical Engineering
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES

MECH2610 Engineering Mechanics

Semester 2 – Unit 1

Revision topic 4: Example 2

Dr Qingen Meng
Q.Meng@leeds.ac.uk

Copyright © 2023 University of Leeds UK. All rights reserved.

Revision topic 4 – Properties of areas 9

Examples:
The dimensions of the cross section of a beam are given. Calculate: 1. The
centroid of the beam; 2. The second moment of area about the centroidal z axis of
the beam.

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Revision topic 4 – Properties of areas 10

Example: 1. Find the centroid:

The shape is symmetric about the vertical centre line

𝑧ҧ =
Use the first moment of area to find 𝑦ത 𝑦ത ෍ 𝐴 = ෍ 𝐴𝑦෤

2. Place a global coordinate system (yoz) at the centroid.

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Revision topic 4 – Properties of areas 11

Example: 3. Find the coordinates of the local centroid of the three parts in
the new global coordinate system:

Component 1

Component 2

Component 3

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Revision topic 4 – Properties of areas 12

Example: 4. 2nd moment of area: 𝐼𝑧 = 𝐼𝑧1 + 𝐼𝑧2 + 𝐼𝑧3

ෞ1 2
𝐼𝑧1 = 𝐼𝑧1′ + 𝐴1 𝑦

ෞ2 2
𝐼𝑧2 = 𝐼𝑧2′ + 𝐴2 𝑦

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Revision topic 4 – Properties of areas 13

Example: 4. 2nd moment of area: 𝐼𝑦 = 𝐼𝑦1 + 𝐼𝑦2 + 𝐼𝑦3

𝐼𝑦1 = 𝐼𝑦1′ + 𝐴1 𝑧ෝ1 2

𝐼𝑦2 = 𝐼𝑦2′ + 𝐴2 𝑧ෝ2 2

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